Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Pink Floyd
Label: Parlophone Records
Release: 2014
Runtime: 53:04
Rating: 3.5/5
Exactly twenty years after it seemed Pink Floyd had written the final chapter of their long, turbulent and hugely successful studio career with the masterpiece »The Division Bell« (1994), guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason decided to officially close the story of one of the greatest progressive rock bands of all time with »The Endless River«. After years of similar false rumors, the news that Pink Floyd were preparing their fifteenth and final studio album after two decades first sounded like a bad April Fools’ joke, but it soon turned out that the two seasoned musicians were dead serious this time.
They dug twenty-year-old, unprocessed and unused recordings out of dusty studio archives, dating from the »The Division Bell« sessions, which include, among other things, keyboard parts from their late bandmate, keyboardist Richard Wright, that nobody has ever heard before. They decided to dedicate this officially confirmed, final Pink Floyd studio album to him, and even before its release it drew plenty of controversial, if not downright nasty and spiteful, remarks, even from musicians who enjoy considerable respect within the progressive rock scene.
So »The Endless River« is first and foremost a musical tribute to the legendary keyboardist, which is really the main point of its rather unexpected release, after many fans wondered whether the remaining duo had made the right call, given that it seemed they had already made the best possible farewell with »The Division Bell«, the kind a band of their stature could hope for. Apart from the single »Louder Than Words«, where Gilmour’s partner Polly Samson once again helped with the lyrics, »The Endless River« is an entirely instrumental, ambient album, and in that respect it’s unprecedented in Pink Floyd history.
On the other hand, hardly anyone will be surprised that »The Endless River« sounds, in style and atmosphere, like an instrumental continuation from where »The Division Bell« ended twenty years ago, while you can also find a few parallels with certain Pink Floyd classics from the seventies. It’s Wright’s keyboards that keep »The Endless River« from sounding like a Gilmour solo project, which is exactly what most fans feared before its release.
The album is split into four fragmented but interconnected parts that, in some other, far more adventurous and innocent times (say, the seventies), could have been four epic suites, but in these corporate and cynical times Dave and Nick opted for the cautious route, making the album easier to digest for the ‘MP3’ and ‘selfie’ generation. »The Endless River« also shares with »The Division Bell« the reused speech of the famous British physicist Stephen Hawking, which, amid countless vast ambient waves built on slide guitar and a keyboard ‘kingdom’, brings a touch of nostalgia to the middle of the album.
»Things Left Unsaid« is a longer ambient intro that draws quite a few parallels with »Shine On You Crazy Diamond«, the classic from »Wish You Were Here« (1975). Besides his traditional, refined guitar variations, Mr. Gilmour once again made extensive use of countless analog synthesizers and guitar effects, and with the help of Wright’s keyboard textures he built many sprawling ‘soundscapes’ that take the listener on a mostly still, rarely turbulent journey down the river, somewhere far ahead, into ‘infinity’. On »It’s What We Do«, Rick’s unmistakable organ comes in for the first time, while Gilmour’s distinctive, melancholic guitar variations build a dramatic atmosphere on par with some of their most cherished evergreens. »Ebb And Flow« also successfully keeps up the sonic bridge between the classic Pink Floyd sound and the later Gilmour era, with his electric guitar up front. The opening and closing stretches are the most interesting and atmospherically powerful moments of the entire »The Endless River«, which around the middle, where instrumentals shorter than two minutes dominate, often loses its clear, connecting focus and falls apart into total ambient fragmentation, which is really its main flaw.
»Sum« is the first track on the album to offer a bit more guitar aggression, which, as you’d expect, really isn’t in abundance, while Richard’s seasoned use of electronically flavored keyboard textures makes this track too sound like a continuation of some forgotten »The Division Bell« song. »Skins« springs a pleasant surprise in the form of a short but catchy Mason drum solo, which has become more the exception than the rule in his ‘older years’. »Unsung« features dramatic slide guitar variations. »Anisina«, one of the most interesting moments on »The Endless River«, has a pleasant, melodic piano arrangement and moving guitar and saxophone passages. The latter come courtesy of guest saxophonist Gilad Atzmon.
»The Lost Art Of Conversation« is a melancholic lament with gentle waves of guitar and piano. »On Noodle Street« has a sparkling bluesy guitar variation, elegant Mellotron waves and a nice dash of jazzy rhythmic flavor. »Night Light« is another short and gentle ambient journey, with guitar and keyboards trading the lead. On »Allons-Y (1)« things finally liven up a bit again, as Gilmour delivers some heftier guitar passages over suddenly lively rhythmic shifts, though sadly it doesn’t last very long. »Autumn ’68«, a dark, symbolic but not stylistic continuation of »Summer ’68«, the classic from »Atom Heart Mother« (1970), carries an autobiographical stamp, with Wright’s church-tinged organ soloing. »Allons-Y (2)« picks up where its namesake left off, reviving the livelier ambient mood.
With its piercing piano and guitar variations, backed by choral vocal harmonies from a guest singer, »Talkin’ Hawkin’« is one of the most melancholic moments on this album. In the middle of the track, Stephen Hawking’s electronically compressed voice chimes in with a few wise thoughts from the field of theoretical physics. »Calling« is not just the darkest moment on »The Endless River«, but one of the gloomiest ambient moments of Pink Floyd’s entire career. »Eyes To Pearls« features Dave’s minimalist two-string playing wrapped in thick curtains of sprawling synthesizer textures. »Surfacing« has an almost iconic, dramatic guitar motif, the kind Gilmour has woven countless times in his musical career. The closing effort, »Louder Than Words«, the only vocal track on the album and also one of its highlights, is a moving ‘grand finale’ with plenty of inspiring ambient shades and a good vocal performance from Dave, though it’s nowhere near the emotional level of »High Hopess«, which remains the ultimate Pink Floyd farewell song.
»The Endless River«, the most anticipated album of 2014 among countless music fans, is a fitting farewell from one of the greatest rock bands of all time and a worthy tribute to the late Richard Wright, even though at its core it’s just a collection of carefully polished and smoothed-out archive recordings, to which the old foxes Gilmour and Mason added minimal touch-ups, squeezing the maximum out of them with the least possible effort. Considering that this project, apart from the ‘inner circle’ around the band, came about completely out of the blue, when hardly anyone expected it, and that twenty years have passed since Pink Floyd last offered something new from the studio, »The Endless River« can even be called a minor success and a sort of moral victory for Gilmour and Mason over all those who opposed the album’s release and predicted its failure in advance. With the help of their late friend’s legacy and splendid guest collaborators, the two legendary musicians created an unspectacular but lovely instrumental ambient achievement that, with all its overall caution, predictably brings no new sonic adventures, but instead closes the nearly fifty-year Pink Floyd circle in a pleasant way.
Lineup
David Gilmour – guitar, vocals, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (2,4,7,17), voice samples
Nick Mason – drums, percussion, voice samples
Richard Wright – Hammond organ, Farfisa organ, organ, piano, Rhodes piano, synthesizer, vibraphone, voice samples
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Guy Pratt – bass guitar (9,14)
Bob Ezrin – bass guitar (11,13,18), additional keyboards (1)
Andy Jackson – bass guitar (5,16), effects (15)
Jon Carin – synthesizer (9,11,13), percussion samples (11,13)
Damon Iddins – additional keyboards (4,12)
Anthony Moore – keyboards (“Calling”)
Gilad Atzmon – tenor saxophone (7), clarinet (7)
Chantal Leverton – viola (18)
Victoria Lyon – violin (18)
Helen Nash – cello (18)
Honor Watson – violin (18)
Durga McBroom – backing vocals (14,17,18)
Louise Marshal – backing vocals (18)
Sarah Brown – backing vocals (18)
Stephen Hawking – voice sample (14)
Production
David Gilmour, Phil Manzanera, Andy Jackson and Martin Glover
Tracklist
SIDE 1:
1. Things Left Unsaid
2. It’s What We Do
3. Ebb and Flow
SIDE 2:
1. Sum
2. Skins
3. Unsung
4. Anisina
SIDE 3:
1. The Lost Art of Conversation
2. On Noodle Street
3. Night Light
4. Allons-y (1)
5. Autumn ’68
6. Allons-y (2)
7. Talkin’ Hawkin’
SIDE 4:
1. Calling
2. Eyes to Pearls
3. Surfacing
4. Louder Than Words
